In a Tragedy of Love Loss

Epilogue: Alternate Ending

As the years went by, things got better for everyone. After they announced they got engaged, Dylan and Jaycee moved into their own apartment with the twins. Soon after, Jaycee had graduated high school with straight A's. They stayed engaged for a few years before they finally got married. They had a small wedding that included Levi and Lillith, her parents, Landen and Alana and Hazel, her husband and their daughter. Siz months later, they bought their own house followed by Jaycee finding out she was pregnant with her second set of twins, Bristol and Braeden, two years later.
After Dylan and Jaycee announed their engagement, Landen decided since Dylan moved out, the apartment was too big. So him and Alana moved into their own apartment. That was approximately a year after they started dating. Jaycee also started letting Alana around the twins, all four of the them, and they absolutely love her. They even started calling her "Aunt Alana". Landen and Alana were together for about three and a half years before they finally got engaged then another two years before they got married. Four years into their marriage, Alana found out she was pregnant with their son, Dominic, then found out she was pregnant with their daughter, Lauren, two and a half years later.
As for Hazel, she was more than happy when she found out Jaycee was going to be okay after her suicide attempt. And that she was going to have the baby. And that one baby had turned into Jaycee having twins. She was absolutely thrilled when Dylan and Jaycee had announced their engagement.
While the twins were infants, Hazel had started naming a guy named Damon, with whom she had a daughter named Maya with two years later. About a year, year and a half after Maya was born, they got married prior to Damon enrolling in the army. Unfortunately, that meant Jaycee's best friend had to move away. Of course they stayed in touch and occasionally visited each other. Naturally, not being around them very often meant Maya was always awkward around both sets of twins.
As the kids got older, they developed a friendship not even oceans could break. Well, some of them developed a friendship not even oceans could break. Much like her mother, Lillith turned out to be a lesbian, and came out of the closet when she was fourteen. While visiting Hazel and Maya in Utah, Lillith found out Maya was bisexual. Hazel and Jaycee didn't mind that there daughters wer dating, even though she secretly wanted Maya to date Levi or Dominic.
Eventually, Lillith and Maya realized that their five-year long-distance relationship was going to end when Maya started college. Thankfully, they parted on good terms. After being apart for some time, Maya had started dating Dominic while home for spring break her junior year. Lillith ended up working a career where she spent a lot of time traveling, so not having a relationship didn't bother her. Maya's relationships with Lillith and Dominic weren't the only romances that boiled amongst the group.
During his senior year of high school, Braeden started dating Lauren. Needless to say, Landen wasn't too thrilled about his daughter having a boyfriend, but he was glad it was his best friend's son. As Braeden was getting ready to go off the college, him and Lauren decided to do the long-distance thing for a year until she started preparing for her college experience. At least until she broke things off halfway through her first year at the University of California in Los Angeles.
Like most children, the whole brood visited during the holidays and on school breaks. Well, almost the whole brood. Lillith was the only one who rarely returned home for the holidays. She normally spent them wherever work took her, but Dylan and Jaycee understood. Instead it was just them, Levi, the younger twins, Hazel and Maya, sometimes Damon, and Landen and Alana's troops. Everybody except Lillith. Or so they thought it would be this year.
"Guess who!" Lillith yelled as she threw open the front door to her parents' house.
"Oh, my god! Lilly!" Bristol attacked her older sister.
"Hey, baby sister." She wrapped an arm around Bristol.
Lillith had returned home from an assignment in Italy after not having been home for the holidays in six years. The whole brigade had forgotten what she looked and sounded like. The last time everyone had seen her, she had long red hair and dressed like a boy. In the past six years, she had gotten her hair cut to shoulder length and dyed blonde. She also used to wear baggy shirts, cargo pants and sneakers. She had walked through the door wearing a white tank top, tight jeans, a black cardigan, black three inch ankle boots and a red French beret.
"Hi, Princess." Dylan hugged his eldest daughter. "You look so different."
"Well, Daddy, Europe sure has been good to me." She dropped her purse on the kitchen counter.
"It sure has." Jaycee strolled into the kitchen. "Hey, hon. Look who's here." Her eyes widened.
"Who are you, and what the hell did you do with my daughter?"
"Hi, Mom." Lillith smiled and hugged her mom.
"Seriously. What the hell did you do to my daughter?"
"I got sent to Europe. I was just in Italy." Jaycee muttered something in some other language. "Well, good to see you too."
"Sorry. I haven't seen my oldest daughter in six years. It would've been nice to know you had a wardrobe change."
"Sorry." She shrugged. "Where's everybody else?"
"Braeden ran out, Levi's somewhere." Dylan began.
"Your uncle Landen and Aunt Alana are at their house with Dominic and Lauren. They'll be over in an hour. And your Aunt Hazel and Maya are on their way over." Jaycee finished.
"Great. I can't wait to see everyone." Lillith sat down at the counter.
"How was Italy?" Bristol asked eagerly.
"Great. I have pictures. I'll show you after dinner." She pulled her hat off. "How's my little sister been?"
"Fine. Still live with Mom and Dad."
"You're twenty-three."
"I know."
"At least we don't have to worry about when she's gonna come home." Jaycee said bitterly as she chopped up a carrot.